Marginal Gains Cycling Podcast, Presented by Silca

 A wheel builder wants Josh's thoughts on the difference between road and track rims. A soon-to-be-worldtour-racing pro wants to know whether the sluggishness he senses in tubeless tires is all in his head. A gravel racer wants to know how to justify the purchase of a second set of wheels to his wife. And of course, the saga of hypotheticals continues as a listener asks what Josh would do if he were suddenly the Tech Director of the UCI. As always, it's a wide-ranging episode of Marginal Gains...and you will not want to miss it.

There was a time when weight was thought of as the most important — if not only — consideration for more speed. That's obviously no longer the case, but weight does still matter. In this episode, we look at when, where, and how much weight matters. If you've ever hoisted a bike to get a sense of how much it weighs (yes, that's all of you), you will not want to miss this episode of Marginal Gains.

It's a rainy, muddy, sloppy, gritty day at the Paris-Roubaix, and you're a pro team's race director. What chain treatment do you go with? You have the option to swap bikes on the course; are the watts you gain with a clean drivetrain worth the cost in time lost in bike transfer? What's the tire pressure you should run...and should you tell the truth if anyone asks? We get into all this, more, and the ways bikes will change 50 years from now, as we Ask Josh Anything in the Marginal Gains Podcast.

Allen Lim is best known for his Skratch drink mix. It has hydrated countless riders and been in the bottles of top cyclists around the world. But the road to becoming one of the most well known people in sports nutrition was crooked and bumpy. Allen tells Josh how the Secret Drink mix almost never made it. How he used the ideas of compassion and caring to steer athletes away from doping. And how his use of a rice cooker was turned against him in an ugly way.

Shimano Road Brand Manager Nick Legan and Road and Gravel Product Manager Dave Lawrence join the Marginal Gains crew to dig into what the what the new road groupsets are, how they're different, and — natch — where you'll find marginal gains in Shimano's new drivetrains, brakes, and wheels.

The 2021 Olympics are behind us, and Marginal Gains thinking was  evident in practically every sport. Josh, Hottie, and Fatty take a look at some of the key events and moments during the games — kinesiology tape, anyone? — and how technology has impacted (and will continue to impact) record-breaking achievements by the greatest athletes in the world.

It's a strange time to be a cyclist, a bike shop, or in the bike industry. Pro teams are scrounging for components. New frames are difficult to come by. Bike shops, swamped with extraordinary demand, are closing due to lack of supply. As an innovator in the bike industry to talks to bike shops and pro teams every day, Josh has practical insight into making the best of a problematic pipeline.  We also talk about how Silca goes about greenlighting a new product, marginal gains on gravel, and what Josh really wants marginal gainers to think about when we're on our bikes.

If Josh is obsessed with something, well...you can bet that there's some "there" there. And Josh has been obsessed enough with Titanium printing for long enough that Fatty and Hottie have been badgering him to talk on the podcast about why for months. And now, with the release of Silca's Mensola computer mount, Josh can get into the weeds on why 3D printing is a big deal, the work that's goes into installation, engineering, and production, and what opportunities and constraints this technology brings to the bike industry.

Drivetrains, aero tweaks, and wheels have emerged as the sweet spot for where listeners can achieve marginal gains on their current bike setups, and this episode will really scratch that itch. We do a deep dive into the why, how, and what of Silca's new diamond-polished chains,  how properly-lubed chains affect cog and chainring wear and tear, and whether you really need to replace that quick link after each chain connect/disconnect cycle. We also get to the best ways to locate your hydration on long rides and the question of whether — wheelwise — deeper is always better. 

Here at Marginal Gains, we are NOT big fans of the old saying, "Failure is not an option." As far as we're concerned, failure is not only an option, but a valuable part of development. In this episode, Josh gets into how he changed his mind about failure, why we see failure at the sharp end of the sport, and why mistakes we make as riders can lead to marginal gains.